Fetters

Fetters

Imagine your house was on fire, and all of your family and pets were safe but all your stuff is about to go up in smoke. What would be the one or two items you might risk running back inside for? These items would likely become Fetters upon your death. A fetter is an anchor that keeps a soul tied to the world of the living. It is a physical manifestation of a wraith’s unfinished business. These items exist in the material world and act as islands of stability to help keep a wraith from being dragged down or swept away by oblivion's constant nagging pull. Without them, one would feel like they were in a raft caught in a storm. Fetters also provide a way for wraith to use powers and other abilities in the skinlands (aka, the mortal realm). Without a fetter, the barrier between the shadowlands and the skinlands, known as the shroud, is impenetrable.

A fetter is an anchor to the mortal realm in a literal sense. While a fetter can be brought into the shadowlands, it’s not recommended that it stays there, else the anchor itself becomes less attached and thus useless. While a wraith can bring their fetter into the shadowlands with them, doing so is laborious and weakening. It is so taxing to the wraith that the fetter must remain in their hands and be the full focus of their attention. Should a fetter be destroyed the wraith it is attached to will feel the loss and be weakened by it.

So long as they have at least one fetter remaining they will be safe from the storm but losing a precious link to the living world is, at best, disconcerting. While the physical effects of losing one of multiple fetters would be slight, it is not uncommon for wraiths that have had their fetter destroyed to slip into catharsis at the loss.